Montreal Canadiens: An In Depth Look At Marc Bergevin’s Trade Deadline History

We’ve done a little tour of the league to find 10 potential trade targets Marc Bergevin can go for at the upcomoing trade deadline, and the buzz in the rumor mill will only get louder now with Brendan Gallagher out for the remainder of the season with a broken thumb. Not to mention the obvious struggles the team has suddenly showed after roaring out of the week long break.

The pressure on Marc Bergevin to make a move is now stronger than ever because this stroke of bad luck can actually be benificial to the team and take advantage of a CBA loophole.

With the abundance of depth that has been praised since the offseason on the Habs’ squad, replacing Gallagher short-term might not be as difficult as imagined. With the recent addition of Eric Staal and Jake Evans playing as if his life depends on it, head coach Dominique Ducharme has already experimented with placing Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the right side of Tomas Tatar and Phillip Danault.

Now this loophole I mentioned earlier is that once the season is over, the salary cap is lifted for the playoffs. So if, or when, Gallagher returns for the playoffs, there won’t be any salary cap issues. Therefore, Bergevin can use the remainder of his cap space to make a splash at the deadline at zero cost, something that couldn’t have been done prior to the injury.

Obviously the team needs to step up because players of Brendan Gallagher‘s class are few and far in between. He’s part of the heart and soul of this team for years and gives it his all every game. Still, using this as an opportunity to give the team extra ammunition for a deep playoff run is very enticing.

Marc Bergevin is now entering his 9th, and possibly his most important, deadline. Let’s take a yearly look and see what the record states.